Chain connector



Sept. 25 1923. 1,469,164

" E. IN. MALVERN CHAIN CONNECTOR Filed Oct. 9, 1922 2? EdrmclJY/TMaZveriz/ I a BY g ATTORNEYS ToZzZZ whom it may concern."

Patented Sept. 25, 1923.

Emaum) n1 MALVERN, on BURLINGTON madman, ssoUnI.

cans coun ncroial Application filed octob'i 9, 1922. Serial no; 593,299.

Be it known that -I,EDMUND N; MALVERN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Burlington Junction, in the county of Nodaway and State of 'Missouri, have invented certain -I18Wdl1ld useful Improvements in a Chain Connector, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact descrip- This invention relates to improvementsi'n fastening attachments or connectors fOI chain ends, such as the opposite ends of a tire chain. a

An object of the invention is to provide such-a connector, of a new and improved design-'21s to costof manufacture, ease of attachment and detachment, and reliability in appointed functions; an important feature of thenew connector, -in; connection with :the advantages foregoing, being its construction of a single; length'of bent'wire. 1

Heretofo're many attempts have been made to provide such connectors but thesame have usually had the disadvantage of being'fdiflicult to manufacture and apply, and when applied' have not been reliable as to the making offa secure and tight hold not aifectedby end pulls on the connector, as the result of interposing' the hook an d eye or equivalent features of the connectors between adjacent links in such-a way as to subject these parts to a tendency to disengagement due to the strains imparted to the chain links tendingtoprill themfurther apart. Where the just-mentioned disadvantages have been tosome extent provided against, the connector" has included a pluralityof lengths of wire,and-sometimessuch a plurality plus additional parts, as pivot studs, washers, auxiliaryspr1ngs,etc.; or

else, and sometimes even in a multi-part structure, as just '1nd1cate'd, 'the connectors heretofore proposed have required special tools to be used in con 'iection with the same,

or'havef'been of such 'a design that their wirelengths, and particularly terminal wire lengths have projected in'various danger- 7 ons directions, and the bulkof the connector has been considerable compared to the 'sim 'ple funotion always in mind infpro'vidlng such a'connector. I q

associated I with v The 'most important object of the present inventionis to provide afconnectorr of the kind indicated; constructed of a single length of bent wire, and adapted vto overcome all the'disadvantages 'just noted. Q

t The invention will be more clearly understood from the following description,:when

taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, showing illustratively, and as one example of a possible"construction by which the invention'may be carried out, an em bodimeht thereof as at present preferred.

In this drawing:

a j -Fi'g. '1' is a plan view of such embodiment, chain 7 links to .bejoined;

and

Similar reference character'srefer to simi- :Fig. 2 at side elevation era; are shown in Fig. 1;. A .7 I

of different chains to be connected, or, as

the invention will probably: be employed, the links at the opposite ends of a single ,chainin cases where such opposite endlinks are to be joined, as in they case of a tire chain.

Thenew devlcecomprises a single piece of bent wire, preferably off-rather stifi steel wire, having-an intermediate portion bent intoi'a loop 3, to connect onelinkA of the chain to be joined. Beyond such loop, thetWo lengths of the wire,afteribeing preferably v 'twistedtogether as indicated at 4,1are both reverselybent to form a second, and what may be termed a two-strand loop .5 in a plane" substantially perpendicular 'to "the plane of "the; first loop, this second, loop engaging the :link B. Portions of the piece of I wire are thereafter continued as substantially parallel. arms or a stretches 16 and 7.

same plane asthel second 100105. The longer arm 7 after being. g venasinglecofl ,as1n

The arm 6 is the shorter. and is providedwith T ,a terminal ho'ok'8 lying in substantially the 'dic'ated at, 9, such coil lyingf-in the-same plane as the first loop 3,*is continued subg ivenxa series; of bends'i in; a plane parallel I stantially at right angl'esxto the. arm 57, as

axtransverse arm 10. .-?Ar1n 10, after bein'g 1 00 tothe plane] of the first loopi8, to 'forma Y beyond the eye.

5 It will'thus beseenthat- I 5 and link A." This terminal arm 12. hasits other end resiliently interlocked with the coil 9.

According to tliis construction, it will be noted that while the connector is made of a coil 9 acts as one of the resilient parts functioning to hold the hook and eye in secure and tight engagement, and yet in a manner readily detachable or'attachable whenever desired without special tools of any kind; and at the same time the length 12, while also forming one or said resilient parts co acting with coil 9, acts further, and in combination with said coil, to absolutely prevent accidental opening of the eye suilicientlyto release the hook, no matter what the pull be between links A and B, thus avoiding any possibility of such a pull ever having a tendency to urge. thehook to become disengaged from the eye. It will be seenfiirther that the new connector, while itmay be permanently connected with one link A of a chain, in..which case after-the loop3 is engaged with said link A thetwist twill be preferablyuestablished; nevertheless the hook and eye portions of the connector are not interposed between the two linksl-r and B, and therefore, as explained in the preceding sentence, arenot subjected to disengaging strain as the result 01 forces applied't'o the two links tending topull them apart; and thickness of the chain and its conyet, the necting fiXture,"at the locationof the hook and eye, or elsewhere, is not materially thickened. I r

- To separate the links A and B, it isjonly necessary to press on the end .o'fthe eye 11 most removed from thexhookS, disengage the hook, turn the link 13 so that its length is perpendicular to the arms 6 and 7, move relatively the connector and linkB as thus disposed until the link passes beyondthe hook '8, and then, tilting the link slightly, move relatively the link and the cross-structureot the connector arranged betweenthe loop9-and the eye .11, until the link passe A and B, these operationsare inerely per formed-in the reverse order. 7 7

have provided an embodiment of the. invention well calcu- 'lated. to obtain all the objects and: advantageshereinbe'tore mentioned. Various slight changes m ght beniadef in the general form and arrangement of the parts described withoutdeparting from the invention, and hence I donot limit myself to the precise details set forth, but consider myself at liberty to make. such changes and single piece of bent wire as explained, the.

arranged in substantially para In ordcrpto' oin the-links comprising a unitary piece ofbent,

includ ng anintermediate length bent intoa alterations as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

i. A connector tor a pair of chain links comprising a unitary piece oi} bent wire, and including an intermediate lengtlrbeiit into a loop for one of said links, the lengths of said wire beyond said loop' being bent into a second loop arranged'in 'aplane substantially perpendicular to the plane of the first loopand being thence continued toward the firstloop-and then respectively formed into a hook and a resiliently engaging keeper for the second loop, when said hook is engaged with its keeper, definingfa third loop, said first and third loops being overlappin lyarranged in substantially parallel planes, one of which last-mentioned'loo'ps is smaller than" the other. i 1 r I Q 2. A connector for a pair of cliainlinks comprising a unitary piece of bent wire,and

such hook, the lengths of the wire beyond including aninterinediate length bent into a loop-for one of said links, the lengths of bent nto said wire beyond said loopfbeing a second loop arranged in a plane 'substan tially perpendicular to the plane of the first vloop and being thence continued towardithe first loop and then respectively formed into a hook and. a resilientlyengaging keeper for suchhook. the lengths.ot'the wire beyond the s'econd'loop, when; said hook is engaged with its keeper, defining' a third loop, said first and thirdloops being overlappingly the first loop being smaller than the third loop.

a unitary piece-of bent wire, and

a loop for one of said links, the lengths of said wire beyond said lojop being bentjinto llel planes,

3. A connector for a pair of chainlinks comprising including an intermediate length bent into a second loop arranged in a plane substan tially perpendicular to the plane of the first loop and then respectively formedinto a hook and-a resiliently'engaging' keeper for. such hook, said, keeper comprising an eye located interinediatethe ends of the length which forms said eye, the last-mentioned length having a terminal portion reversely bent onanother portion of said length, said last-mentioned portion crossingthe chain laterally away from the point of formation ol -saideye. V i i 4. A'coniiectortora: pair of .chain links tially perpendicular to the 1 plane of. the first loop and thenrespectively. tormedwinto a a second loop arranged -.in a planesubstaiihook and "a resiliently-engaging-keeper for such hook, said keeperf comprising an eye e, a nd of said eye, said last-mentioned length having a coil formed therein at the junction of said last-mentioned portion and a portion extending between the second loop and'said coil, and the free end of said-terminal -por tion and said locked .7

co-il being resiliently inter- EDMUND NMALVERN. p 

